No, each person that is in the games gets two games to test their map(s), if they choose to use them both is the decision of that person. Some chose to simply play a single map and pass it on, others use the two tests to their advantage.
I assume they were lost or unmoved from the now invisible section all this used to be in. Consult a mod for better information if you like, I simply assume all that.
If possible, I'd love to be signed up as a reserve. I've been jamming on a map that I'm excited about, specifically made for my two favorite gametypes, Oddball and King of the Hill. That'd be my only slot.
That's correct. I moved the current sign-up thread and last week's recap to this new forum, but previous threads have been let go out to pasture.
dang im to late. well if 5 people bail im ready for customs on tuesday. BARF I have a map similar to boarding action (halo CE) ive been dying to try out. 6 - 8 plyr CTF
Yeap, sorry about that guys, I was an hour off on time. For some reason I was thinking 7pm central... third time's a charm.
No worries man! Was a weird night last night - for the first half hour we couldn't get any-damn-body, so we ended up starting late and opening with a 2v2 test. Then suddenly at 7:30 a lot of our sign-ups appeared, and suddenly we had ten guys (and usually we cap it at eight). We were never below eight until we wrapped up around 9:30. Anyway, we'll catch you next time.
Recap for Tuesday, Jan. 22nd I'll show you mine if you show me yours. Jade by Audience - I really like the way this map is shaping up. Opening up the middle of the map has improved and varied flow significantly, and some of the other changes you made have pulled the action around to some areas that weren't receiving it before. The new lift is a great addition, even if my dumb ass did suicide off of it by jumping on top of it from the wrong side (oops). The design is easy on the eyes, too. Nice little 2v2 map you got here, and at this point I have no major complaints or suggestions. Chimera by unrivaled - It took me a couple minutes to catch the Guardian inspiration for this map. It doesn't play like Guardian though from overhead it somewhat resembles it, and has a similar multi-level structure with a center platform and four distinct areas grouped around it. Your design has even more going on than Guardian though, some good and some bad. Overall I found a lot of promise in this though it does need some work. A few suggestions: 1. I think all of my team found the map to play very linearly. There is a lot to this map but we spent most of our time pushing up and down the very long hallway that bisects the map. That hallway was problematic, I think. It has some cover in it, but otherwise it's hard to get in and out of it except at each end and from the center platform in the middle, so what ended up happening is a protracted siege between the two sides. And if one side killed the other, they would charge across and take over that other side, then usually get attacked from behind... rinse and repeat. I'd like to see you re-think this and break those areas up more. 2. The verticality was good but in spots excessive. At times I found it hard to figure out how to get up or down a level, and when I did get there I felt very separated from the action a floor away from me. Maybe tighten it up just a little? Make the levels closer together, and with more ways to get up and down freely; it will make it play more fluidly. 3. The mountain area didn't do anything for me. If you spawn there you have two choices - go up high and camp for DMR battles, or take the 2-part lift and quickly die. And unless you spawned there, there just didn't seem to be a reason to go there; it was very far from the main map. Some others suggested ways to improve this, but if it was me, I'd just ditch it entirely. You have enough real estate on the rest of the map without that small chunk of natural geo. Black Brior Manor by unrivaled - Really liked the aesthetics of this. For the urban "you're in a real place" feel, this was one of the best I've seen recently. And the cramped streets and rooms plus the zombies' super-thrusters made infection actually scary, which it seldom is. Plus: moving warthogs! That never fails to make me smile. Things that need work: 1. Soft kills on high ground, or make those areas physically inaccessible. Actually, I'd suggest doing both. 2. Some of the flooring was bumpy and hard to navigate, especially as the flood. When there's a big bump at a doorway, the flood's higher jump makes it very hard to clear. 3. Some of the interior rooms were IMO a bit too cramped - I'd prefer to see some of the tighter doorways and corridors widened slightly if possible - and it seemed like a room or two only had one entrance? Even in flood, giving players at least two ways into every space is important to cut down on camping. If multiple humans holed up in a room with one doorway, it would have been bad news. Interchange by LEE C G - Up front, let me just say kudos on another great design. It felt and played very naturally, and CTF was incredibly fun. The amount of times I was going up the street and someone scurried across a catwalk or from doorway to doorway in front of me was amazing; it made me feel like the enemy could be anywhere (and usually, they were). Aesthetics were nice too, though not as nice (yet) as your previous map; this one was a bit busy-looking in places. Suggestions: I'd reduce clutter where possible, make some of the more busy areas simpler and cleaner. It will cut down your object count and make those areas better play-spaces. 2. I do wish the vehicle pathing was wider, at least in some spots if not all of them. I realize there was enough width to drive comfortably, but if people break out the plasma pistols it's all over for those hogs - they won't be worth a damn. Actually... this is a radical suggestion, but if you don't want to re-design or rebuild anything, you might replace the regular hogs with (gulp) gauss hogs. The map is so dangerous to vehicles inherently that you could almost get away with using those. Bleached by me - For a first CTF test I was really happy with this. People didn't seem confused by the layout, a lot of the map got used (though apparently a large section was ignored by my team), and the flag ran via multiple routes which is harder to pull off than you would think. I've tested CTF on so many of my own maps where the flag runner gravitated to the same path every time; it's hard to achieve that balance where every option seems appealing. Oh, also - I was glad people found and used my turret-dispensers. So what did you guys think? (By the way, this map is about 40% a remake of White Lodge, my Reach map; the other 60% is a mix of reimaginings of sections of that map so they have a similar floorplan but look very different, and then some concepts stolen from The Pit and CyborgAnthro's Depot.) Octave by me - For too many people on the map (it really shouldn't be more than 8) I enjoyed this. I took some measures to cut down on jetpacking dominance, and I think they paid off. Bottom mid was kind of ****ed so I'm going to add a lot more cover down there - specifically, I've added walls on the four corners so bottom mid is now more of a room rather than an open platform. Poo Poo Face by Juanez - Hilarious name aside, this map was stellar. Really nice layout, felt intuitive and played well from the first spawn. This effect is so hard to achieve and I seldom feel it on any map (even Bungie/343 maps), so a hearty handshake and pat on the back to you for pulling it off. The spawning seemed fine too even though you were laying them down right before start time. Really I have no suggestions, except that I SUGGEST we play this again soon. I might have more feedback then, but for a first test I was really impressed by this. Windswept by Cyborg - Love the balconies. Love the design of the atrium, which is a vulnerable place to be but not TOO vulnerable. Love the layout. Love this map, really. You're a really good forger, dude. No negative feedback at all, I just enjoyed this game a lot. Quasar by Cyborg - I found this layout a little more awkward than Windswept. There were some places where it seemed like areas should probably just connect but instead one would end in a railing (4x4 corner), there'd be a three-foot gap, and then a platform right next to it. Maneuvering in a few key spots was weird. The gameplay was still pretty solid but I don't think this map struck me as much as Windswept did as being great from the jump. Another test might change my mind though. Hoarding Action by Barf - I never liked the original map, but this was pretty fun for being a reimagination of a map I disliked! The elevators took some getting used to, but resulted in some highly entertaining battles and getting the drop on people at times. Unfortunately you've got the teleporter glitch happening, which sucks... wish 343 would fix that already. (My map Bleached has two teles on it too, so I may need to do something about it as well. Sigh.) Two suggestions: 1. The two areas need to be a lot closer to each other. It should be remotely possible to DMR each other, and sniping shouldn't be quite as hard as it is. One key aspect of Boarding Action was cross-map fighting; I didn't feel like we were doing much of that at all here. 2. I felt like the various floors of each side were a little too separate. It seemed like there was just a ramp or two on the ends and then the elevator. The original was a little more fluid - there were jump-ups and dropdowns to move between the levels; would like to see the same here.
Jade by xAudienceofone- It was a slow start, so we played my 2v2 map Jade first. If anyone from that test cares to write anything it would be appreciated. I thought it had improved a bit, though I do remember some issue with the lift. Still trying to work that out. Chimera by unrivaled - While this had some things I liked (verticality, lots of passageways and options), I never really knew where I was. I beleive Ber said that it was as if Lockout had gotten a malignant tumor and it just spread wildly. I find this metaphor useful, because the map seemed to have sprawled out far and wide, but with no real cohesion. The only connecting peices between areas (aside from the center) seemed to be a haphazardly crafted walkway or a floating rock. Other areas were too linear, resulting in a back and forth contest where there was almost nowhere to escape to. Basically the map was difficult to get around, the weapons were too powerful (binary), and nothing flowed very well. Black Brior Manor by unrivaled - Despite the humans that could jump above the map's structures, this was really enjoyable. It was made rather well, and gave an essence that I needed to be really good at hiding, or stick with my team. I tried both, and died each time. That was to be expected. I found that the warthogs were distracting, and one even spawned on top of a human, nearly killing him. Interchange by LEE C G - I felt like this needed just a few more players to fit well. Perhaps a 6v6. Otherwise, my one complaint was the split bridge in the center, where the infantry could walk up 1x5 flats. I found that area odd to traverse, especially by vehicle. Otherwise this played very well for slayer and excellently in flag. There were a few moments when I as just happy with how things were going. Bleached by Nutduster - The one thing I found, was that I never (save for one flag run) used the lift side. Other than that, I had some personal issues with the walls being made of flats and having no depth to them (It bothers me when walls are 0.2 ft thick without any visual support pillars). There should be some other incentive to go toward that beam rifle side, though I'm not sure what. Sword and the geometry attracted us to the other side, so some geometry changes may be in order. I found this played very well, an instant winner. Octave by Nutduster - I'm glad this went a wee bit poorly, because that means you aren't releasing it yet. I really enjoy this map, my one issue remains the flat areas that are on each side of the mid height bridge, where players from bottom and th lifts arrive. They are just so flat that gameplay is worse there. Otherwise, its still a great structure and plays wonderfully. Poo Poo Face by Juanez - I don't remember anything wrong here. I'll have to play this again to try and come up with anything, honestly. Really, fantastic work. Windswept by Cyborg - One thing I noticed was that once you were in an area, there didnt seem to be much option. There were multiple entrace/exits, but some were too high to reach without jetpack, and others were at the same area, so if an enemy strolled in, you had to back up to take cover. Other than that the bridge is far improved and the rest of the map benefited from it. Quasar by Cyborg - I'm having difficulty remembering this one, but I feel like I had issues finding where to go, and staying on the top floor. The paths had no railings and were a wee bit narrow for the intense firefights that occurred there. I don't remember much else. Hoarding Action by Barf - This was...interesting. It took a good 3 minutes to find the teleporters (one of which didnt show on my screen), and eventually I realized that both teams were just camping them, so I just took to sniping. That was tough. Sniping that distance was ridiculous. Overall the map was pretty bad in my opinion because of the distance I had to shoot with snipes, and the teleporter only crossing between bases. There needs to be more than two teleporters to access the structures.
Might help if the hogs spawned in an inaccessible area behind a one-way shield and then rolled out into the play area. The way they fall into the map is dangerous. I like the overall effect - it's clearly artificial but it's just entertaining to me to be on a street with "traffic." Agreed, and I meant to mention that myself. I fell into it while driving a hog there. Doubtful that I would do so again, but that was a choice I found kind of distracting and not to much purpose. A more solid bridge with maybe a single, smaller drop hole in the middle, with railings facing forward and back (to prevent vehicles from getting caught or falling through) might work better..? Thank you! I steal from the best. And also from myself. Anyway, I know what you mean about the walls, but I'm basically stuck with what I've got. I prefer to use block shorts for walls whenever possible because it looks more realistic, but I'm out of blocks completely and I don't have enough walls to double them up, either (not that that's a good idea due to framerate and lighting). Basically, if you're going to make a 4v4-sized map with floors, walls and ceilings, some aspect of it is going to have to suffer - hopefully just visually, and not functionally. I tried to make most of it look architecturally feasible but I don't have any hope of thickening up those thin walls. // Regarding the lift side, I think it will be used by people that love to snipe (obviously), for running objectives, and as an alternate power position to offset the other end - sort of like how people would sometimes hang out in Sword Room on The Pit, and snipe or BR toward training. There's also a teleporter hidden away over there that takes you to the top of the other end of the map, which may prove useful for breaking a team's map control. I'll look into that. I've been so concerned with bottom mid (had to be entirely redone thanks to a glitch I didn't know about with tin cups) and controlling jetpackers, that adding a few vertical wrinkles has been the last thing on my mind. I may ultimately not do TOO much, though. The maps that inspired this one most were Guardian and Lockout, and both of them are essentially flat across top mid and the two most heavily-used towers facing in. But I might be able to do a little something. I think there were two sets of teleporters, top and bottom? Not 100% sure of that. If so, it's directly inspired by the original Boarding Action map. It's a strange design, to be sure (Bungie was really experimental with their maps in CE; less so with each passing Halo sequel). I wouldn't mind seeing the structures a whole lot closer to each other, with heavy mancannons (maybe combined with trait zones) so you can fly physically across on the sides. It would give more ways to move between the two areas without fundamentally changing the design.
Cluttering up our recap thread with non-recap material. Tsk, tsk! You WILL return to us, apeman. It is your DESTINY.
I'm an honorary TCOJ member being a co-founder and whatnot. That affords me privileges like doing whatever I want. Lol Perhaps in time.
Circular News I'm going to sticky this thread and just use it as a dumping ground for general news related to our little group. For our first edition, Forge Hub Favorites voting is happening, and the names ought to look familiar to you. Frequent TCOJ player PA1NTS has not one, but TWO maps in the voting. That's right, he's splitting his own votes. Balls of beautiful brass, he's got. Less-frequent TCOJ players (more like general affiliates, at this point) FlyingshoeILR and Mockknizzle also have a map in there. Nooch (there are many more O's in there but I can't be bothered to count them) is another bird who has flown in flying-V formation with us on occasion, and unsurprisingly he made the cutoff as well. And finally, my own map is in there. Go vote for something, and may I just say it warms my cold, black heart to see so many people who have played with us & continue to play with us up in that thread. In more predictable news, the lobby is running full steam now and we'll have a new sign-up thread for you on Friday at some point. Last night's game was fun and might have been the most consistent crop of maps we've played since Halo 4 came out - pretty much one winner after another. Check the recap thread for details.
Jade by Audience – Sorry I missed getting to play on this. Chimera by unrivaled – I enjoyed moving through this map, but only because I liked each area individually. I didn’t get a sense of how to get from major area to area during the game, though I usually don’t during my first game on most maps. I don’t remember ever making it over to the natural geometry area, and found it quite surprising when I realized I was being attacked from there. It just seemed so far away from the rest of the map as I had been imagining it. I’d suggest pushing the entire map closer to that area if it is going to remain. I think this is a good beginning to a cool map. Right now, for me, the layout and movement paths need to be refined so that moving through the map feels a little more intuitive. Black Brior Manor by unrivaled – I really feel the theme of this map was tight. The buildings, courtyard and streets really conveyed a sense of being in a small section of city. As for improvements, Nutduster has covered most of my concerns and more. Personally, I have a hard time with the speed boost of the flood and would prefer to turn it off, but that’s not really a reflection on your map. Nice job of making me enjoy a game of flood. Interchange by LEE C G – I was pretty happy with how the games turned out on the map. Like Nutduster, I was happy to see players running all over, particularly when looking toward the overpass area. I would’ve liked to add a bit of barrier on the overpass to prevent the hogs from falling in the middle, but I was more concerned with getting all the paths throughout the map created and was running out of budget. If I can tighten up other parts of the map and free up some budget, I’ll work on the overpass, but there are many other areas I’d like to tighten up first. I may be cutting down on a few of the side paths that don’t seem necessary in order to lower the budget. I was hoping for a bit more aesthetically, but again, budget issues have prevented it. I think with some more thought and time, I’ll be able to get it looking and playing better. I’m looking forward to eventually getting Dominion playing on it since I’ve yet to try forging a map for that gametype. Bleached by Nutduster – I enjoyed plying on this map. I didn’t have the layout down at first, yet was still able to effectively move through the map. At about the halfway point in the game, I had most of the layout figured out and was able to contribute a bit more. The architecture and forging were done well. The balance between protecting an away flag and trying to grab it up again seemed very fair. I also noticed that the flag carriers ended up choosing from several paths. Somehow, if a flag carrier felt that one path was too defended, there was always a few other path choices available, none of which was too long or out of the way. Octave by Nutduster – Besides the fact that the game we played seemed a bit too wild, I liked the layout. Did a lot change from last week, architecture-wise, because I felt like I was playing on almost an entirely different map. I think it may be because the game we played forced our focus on particular areas and paths to those areas. I think you’ve already suggested a few good changes for the future, so I’ll leave it at that. Poo Poo Face by Juanez – The game on this felt just like you’re expecting a Halo game to feel. The paths and areas felt nicely balanced. I don’t remember experiencing any unfair spawning and had time to get my bearings before looking for action. I really liked the forging. You were able to get some nice architecture with a conservative use of the forge objects. It deserves a much better name. Windswept by Cyborg – This was my favorite map of the night. I think making it so players couldn’t just jump across that central bridge area (former bridge area) really improved the gameplay on the map. It slowed movement through the map in just the right way, allowing players to rest a bit between confrontations, where last week, you couldn’t go 2 seconds without being in an up-close fight if your were anywhere near the center top. I didn’t make it to the lower areas much so I don’t know if anything was changed or improved. Is there anything that can be done to get people to use the lower areas a bit more, or is it just me not exploring enough? Quasar by Cyborg – I enjoyed the game on this map just fine, though movement through it wasn’t as intuitive as I would’ve liked. I think the verticality seemed a bit too exaggerated. I’ll have to check this one out in forge to get the layout figured out. Though it didn’t seem overly complicated, I didn’t figure it out during the game, and for a slower paced (bad aiming) player like me, my only offense in many games comes from being very familiar with the layout. Hoarding Action by Barf - I had a good time on the map, but was also very frustrated pretty often. I like the elevators and the multiple levels. The Boarding Action concept is fun and different. In order to make this a bit more enjoyable instead of a chore at times, I’d change a few things. I believe there were four levels on each base. If that’s correct, I’d lessen it to three so you’re not plodding up and down through the levels, trying to find someone to fight. It’d also make it harder for the sniper to find a quiet level to hide on. The bases should be much closer together, close enough to make the DMR effective at engaging a sniper. Currently, the sniper only has to worry about another sniper from the other side or people coming up from behind. It’d be fairer if the sniper had a little more to worry about.